Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities


Book Description

Accessible book tackling the issue of violence and abuse of people with disabilities, educating and empowering both professionals and self-advocates.




Crime Victims with Developmental Disabilities


Book Description

Although violent crime in the United States has declined over the past five years, certain groups appear to remain at disproportionately high risk for violent victimization. In the United States, people with developmental disabilities-such as mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and severe learning disabilities may be included in this group. While the scientific evidence is scanty, a handful of studies from the United States, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain consistently find high rates of violence and abuse affecting people with these kinds of disabilities. A number of social and demographic trends are converging that may worsen the situation considerably over the next several years. The prevalence of developmental disabilities has increased in low-income populations, due to a number of factors, such as poor prenatal nutrition, lack of access to health care or better perinatal care for some fragile babies, and increases in child abuse and substance abuse during pregnancy. For example, a recent report of the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities found that during the past decade, while the state population increased by 20 percent, the number of persons with developmental disabilities in California increased by 52 percent and the population segment with mild mental retardation doubled. Because of a growing concern among parents and advocates regarding possible high rates of crime victimization among persons with developmental disabilities, Congress, through the Crime Victims with Disabilities Awareness Act of 1998, requested that the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences conduct a study to increase knowledge and information about crimes against individuals with developmental disabilities that will be useful in developing new strategies to reduce the incidence of crimes against those individuals. Crime Victims with Developmental Disabilities summarizes the workshop and addresses the following issues: (1) the nature and extent of crimes against individuals with developmental disabilities; (2) the risk factors associated with victimization of individuals with developmental disabilities; (3) the manner in which the justice system responds to crimes against individuals with disabilities; and (4) the means by which states may establish and maintain a centralized computer database on the incidence of crimes against individuals with disabilities within a state.







Family Violence and People with Intellectual Disabilities


Book Description

This paper provides basic information about family violence and people with intellectual disabilities. Topics covered include the nature & prevalence of intellectual disabilities; the varieties of violence, including child maltreatment, institutional abuse, neglect, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault; the connections between violence & disability; risk reduction; intervention programs; and research needs.




Parents with Intellectual Disabilities


Book Description

The first international, cross-disciplinary book to explore and understand the lives of parents with intellectual disabilities, their children, and the systems and services they encounter Presents a unique, pan-disciplinary overview of this growing field of study Offers a human rights approach to disability and family life Informed by the newly adopted UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) Provides comprehensive research-based knowledge from leading figures in the field of intellectual disability







Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities


Book Description

Ce document traite de l'abus dont sont victimes les personnes ayant une déficience. Il apporte des solutions en orientant la démarche sur la prévention de ces abus, en identifiant les risques et les situations propices à l'abus et de violence.




Anger Treatment for People with Developmental Disabilities


Book Description

Anger and aggression are prevalent problems among people with developmental disabilities and constitute primary reasons for them to be admitted and re-admitted to institutions. They are also a key reason for the prescribing of behaviour control and anti-psychotic medication to this client group. Stimulated by growing research in this area, mental health and criminal justice professionals have begun to see the benefits of anger assessment and cognitive-behavioural anger treatment for people with developmental disabilities. There is no prior text to guide anger treatment provision to this client group. This text presents a manual-guided cognitive-behavioural anger treatment protocol, grounded in a solid theoretical framework and empirical evidence for its efficacy in clinical practice. The assessment and treatment approach is designed to engage and motivate patients with recurrent and deep-rooted anger problems and their manifestation in serious aggressive behaviour. Accompanying the treatment protocol are a number of worksheets, handouts, and exercise sheets for clinicians and clients that can be accessed online.




Religion, Disability, and Interpersonal Violence


Book Description

This groundbreaking reference offers mental health professionals a rigorous, nuanced guide to working with abuse survivors with disabilities in religious communities. Expert contributors unravel complex intersections of disability, religion, and identity in the context of gender violence (including spotlights on racial, gender, and sexual minorities, Deaf persons, and men), and offer survivor-centered best practices for intervention. Chapters explore how responses from clergy and other religious figures may sometimes prevent survivors from seeking help, and how faith leaders can help to empower survivors. The concepts and research presented here support multiple purposes, from removing barriers to survivor services to working with religious communities to be more inclusive and transparent. Among the topics featured: From barriers to belonging for people with disabilities: Promising pathways toward inclusive ministry. Empowering women with intellectual disabilities to resist abuse in interpersonal relationships. Race, culture, and abuse of persons with disabilities. Ableist shame and disruptive bodies: Survivorship at the intersection of queer, trans, and disabled existence. From the narratives of survivors with disabilities: Strengths and gaps between faith-based communities and domestic violence shelters. Religion, Disability, and Interpersonal Violence brings transformative insights to psychologists, social workers, and mental health professionals across disciplines providing guidance within religious and disabled communities in their clinical practice. It also provides valuable background for researchers seeking to examine the interface between religious culture and the abuse of persons with disabilities.




Parenting Matters


Book Description

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.